The Business Case of : How a start-up can achieve customer engagement

Mouratidou Sofia

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION & LEGAL STUDIES A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in Management

December 2018 Thessaloniki –

Student Name: Sofia Mouratidou

SID: 1102170017 Supervisor: Dr. Lida Kyrgidou

I hereby declare that the work submitted is mine and that where I have made use of another’s work, I have attributed the source(s) according to the Regulations set in the Student’s Handbook.

December 2018 Thessaloniki - Greece

Abstract

This consulting project was written as part of the MSc in Management at the International Hellenic University for Ellinair . It examines how a startup airline like Ellinair can achieve customer engagement in such a highly competitive industry. First, the research measures the expected and perceived service quality of the company’s flights using the SERVQUAL model. Considering that the higher the quality, the higher the engagement, the results demonstrate which services of Ellinair should be improved. Additionally, the study aims at identifying the traits that define Ellinair’s brand personality and the level of self-congruity, meaning the congruity between the brand’s and the customer’s personality traits. Finally, based on the results, the study addresses to the company practical recommendations in order to boost their customers’ engagement.

Keywords: Ellinair, airline industry, service quality, brand personality, customer engagement

Mouratidou Sofia 30.12.2019

-i- Preface

The present consulting project aims in measuring the service quality of Ellinair Airline and define its brand image in order to improve the customer engagement. The ultimate goal is to provide meaningful insights and recommendations to the company. What motivated me to choose Ellinair is my current employability at a company of Mouzenidis Group, Active MICE, and my willingness to learn more about another facet of tourism.

I would like to specially thank my academic and company supervisor, Dr Lida Kyrgidou and Mrs. Georgia Panagiotou, for their valuable comments and assistance in the formulation of my research theme. Furthermore, I would like to thank Mrs. Olga Angelopoulou, Sales & Commercial Executive at Ellinair, and Mr. Romoudi Gianni, Airport Director for the aviation companies of Mouzenidis Group, for helping me getting a permission to distribute my questionnaires in the gates of “Makedonia Airport” at Thessaloniki and realize the project.

.

-ii- Contents

ABSTRACT ...... I

PREFACE ...... ΙI

CONTENTS ...... III

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

2. ELLINAIR OVERVIEW ...... 3

3. LITERATURE REVIEW AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT ...... 5

3.1 SERVICE QUALITY ...... 5 3.2 SELF-CONGRUENCE ...... 8 3.2.1 BRAND PERSONALITY ...... 8 3.2.2 SELF-CONCEPT & SELF-CONGRUITY ...... 10

4. METHODOLOGY ...... 13

5. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ...... 15

5.1 DEMOGRAPHICS ...... 15 5.2 SERVQUAL MODEL...... 17 5.2.1 RELIABILITY TEST ...... 17 5.2.2 GAP ANALYSIS ...... 17 5.3 BRAND PERSONALITY ...... 20 5.4 SELF CONGRUITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ...... 22

6. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 24

6.1 MOBILE APPLICATION ...... 24 6.2 BIG DATA...... 25 6.3 EXPANSION OF THE FLEET ...... 27 6.4 24/7 CUSTOMER SERVICE ...... 28

7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ...... 29

8. CONCLUSIONS ...... 31

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 33

10. APPENDIX...... 36

-iii- 1. Introduction

The airline industry is a major industry significantly contributing to globalization and economic growth, bringing together not only people and cultures, but also businesses. According to the Aviation Industry Leaders Report 2018 by KPMG the aviation industry has doubled in size in the past 15 years and forecasts expect this growth to continue even more aggressively. Speaking in numbers, the worldwide commercial fleet is forecast to grow from nearly 25,000 aircrafts at the beginning of 2017 to over 35,000 over the next decade.

Although the majority would expect that entering the airline industry would have a great difficulty because of the high capital required, it appears that the barriers of entering the market are quite low. Indeed, operating an airline company is extremely expensive; for the initial set up of the company, the basic costs include buying aircrafts and hiring qualified, professional pilots while the ongoing operations include high fuel costs, airport fees, handling luggage and marketing expenses. However, the entry of new competitors in the airline industry is easy as far as there is easy access to cheap loans and credits. Lessors take advantage of the profitability of the airline industry and the high passenger demand by choosing to fund aircrafts. “The relatively muted impact of the recent airline bankruptcies in Europe – Alitalia, Air Berlin and Monarch – is demonstrative of the current robustness of the aviation sector.”1

The low barriers in entering the airline market, lead in the appearance of more and more airlines worldwide, mainly low cost, and consequently create an intense competition. The current trend of low-cost business models make the switching cost low for the customers who have the capability to easily move from one airline to the other hunting the best offer according to their current needs. In other words, airlines face a huge challenge in achieving customer engagement and loyalty. The fact though that well-established airlines with higher prices tend to have more loyal customers

1 The Aviation Industry Leaders Report 2018: Navigating the Cycle, kpmg.com, Retrieved from https://home.kpmg.com/ie/en/home/insights/2018/01/aviation-industry-leaders-report

-1- than other start up airlines which sell in lower rates demonstrates that customers ask for more than a cheap fare to be loyal.

Ellinair is not an exception as it faces the issue of engaging its individual customers and becoming a stable choice for domestic and international flights that are covered by them. The present consulting project aims in studying Ellinair Brand and making useful recommendations to increase the loyalty the customers. To reach this point, several steps are going to be followed; first, the service quality of the airline is going to be measured in terms of both in-flight and airport services. Based on the ground that the higher the quality, the higher the engagement, proposals are going to be presented for the improvement of the low rated services. Furthermore, the research focuses on formulating the Brand Personality of Ellinair, which will assist in defining the ideal target group and addressing marketing campaigns to the most appropriate niche markets.

Before analyzing the above, a presentation of Ellinair airline and its short-term goals is a prerequisite in order to better exploit the research results.

-2- 2. Ellinair Overview

Ellinair Company operates since 2013 in the highly competitive airline industry and can be considered as a start-up airline company in the Greek market. It is a subsidiary of Mouzenidis Group which started operating with the aim to cover the demand of Mouzenidis Travel for airline seats. The scheduled flights were added only in 2015 and today the company operates from 5 bases to 42 destinations. Ellinair’s fleet counts 10 aircrafts of which the 6 operate only during the high season. This year they welcomed a new airplane in their family, stating that there is the perspective of adding two new airplanes in their fleet during 2019.

As stated in their official website, the mission of the company is “to provide high quality aviation experiences. Aligned to the international flight safety regulations and with attention to detail, [they] care for the discreet interaction with [their] passengers, in order to meet their needs during the flight.”2 The vision of the company “is to become the best regional company based in Thessaloniki while aiding Tourism Industry’s as well as local and national economy’s further development.”

But what are the privileges that Ellinair offers to their customers and partners in order to achieve the short-term goal of high quality and the long-term goal of being established as a regional leader? As per their most recent press release, Ellinair offers presence to all GDS platforms3 and cooperates with all the market of tourism. Furthermore, the customers can take advantage of special group rates, free baggage up to 20 kilograms and hand luggage for all, extra luggage for unemployments and military and free coffee and snack during the flight. Ellinair also points out that they have an Interlining agreement with more than 250 air carriers; the Interlining agreement allows the clients who want to travel to a destination that requires two flights to pay for only one ticket even if the flights are programmed by different Airlines. For example, if someone wants to travel from to Thessaloniki with Air-

2 Εταιρικό προφίλ, Ellinair.com, Retrieved from https://el.ellinair.com/article/company_profile 3 Global Distribution System (GDS) is a worldwide computerized network that enables reservations and transactions between travel services providers.

-3- France and then from Thessaloniki to Rhodes island with Ellinair because there is no direct connection, he/she can pay only one fare. These agreements allow each airline to accept the other's airfare and undertake baggage transfers and accountability, making it more convenient and possible to select Ellinair. Finally, the airline offers to the collaborating travel agent a commission on the ticket price, giving motivation for partnerships and establishing stable alliances.

Ellinair clearly adopts a market penetration strategy in the already existing markets and aims in its expansion. This year they are going to surpass the 1 million passengers in contrast to the 792.096 passengers they had in 2017, which in numbers is translated in more than 20% increase. The high demand justifies the plans for investments in more aircrafts in the future. In their goals is included as well the use of a New Loyalty Program (Frequent Flyer Program) which will reward the frequent customers with points and other privileges and offer B2B services at travel agencies.

Ellinair has recently added more flights and also has increased the frequency of the existing flights, as can be observed in the Winter Flight Programme for 2018-2019 (Appendix 3). Last but not least, Ellinair inaugurated a new base at which is a stepping stone in becoming a regional domestic leader and interconnecting more and more destinations.

Diagram 1: Companies of Mouzenidis Group

-4- 3. Literature review and model development

Measuring customer loyalty can be highly complex but it is a pre-necessity to identify the gaps of a brand and increase the engagement. Service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, brand image and customer engagement are only a few predictors of customer loyalty. The present research focuses on two of the above predictors in order to measure the customer engagement of the Ellinair’s clients: Service Quality and Brand Image. The theoretical models used are the SERVQUAL Model and the Self-Congruence Theory which will be analyzed next.

3.1 Service Quality

In the past many researchers have studied the subject of service quality, considering it promotes customer satisfaction, stimulates intention to return, and encourages recommendations (Nadiri and Hussain, 2005). As following, customer satisfaction increases profitability, market share, and return on investment. It should be noted though that as service quality affects the customer loyalty level, it goes the other way around as well. According to Fombrun and Shanley (1996), a positive corporate image is the most essential part of a marketing strategy for attracting consumers. A company with a good image is more likely to stand out in the marketplace because it draws both repeat customers and trial users (Connor and Davidson,1997). Passengers who have a favorable image of the airline consider a particularly bad flight to be an exception to their impression of the company (Ostrowski et al., 1993). Thus, a favorable image separates and distinguishes the company from its competitors.

On this ground, service quality is defined as the extent to which a service meets customers’ needs or expectations (Lewis, 2010) and cannot be defined as a uni- dimensional rating. In other words, service quality can be defined as the gap between customers’ expectations of service and perceived service. If expectations are higher than performance, then perceived quality is not satisfying and, as a result, customer dissatisfaction occurs (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Lewis, 2010). Additionally to the

-5- above definition, Parasuraman states that delivering quality service means conforming to customer expectations on a consistent basis and only once.

In particular for the airline industry, service quality is defined as whether passenger perceptions of an airline’s position in terms of its service quality match the expectations created by that airline.

For the conceptualization of the above, the SERVQUAL Model is widely used as the most common and accurate model developed using multiple scales. The construction of this model by Parasuraman is based on Perceived Quality instead of the objective quality. As Zeithalm mentions, perceived quality is basically the consumer’s judgment about a company’s or brand’s overall excellence and superiority.

The original development of this model found that the main criteria of assessing service quality suit 10 different dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility, security, competence, courtesy, understanding/knowing the customer and access. Through the years SERVQUAL Model has focused on 5 dimensions as described below: “The first dimension is tangibles which focus on the elements that offer the service physically. The second dimension is Reliability which refers to the capability of providing the promised service reliably and correctly, such as complains handling, punctual delivery and so on. The third dimension that is based on attitude of service personnel is referred to as Responsiveness which is the personnel desire to assist customers and give on time services. Meanwhile, the fourth dimension is Assurance which is defined as the capability to arouse trust and confidence in customers. Finally the last dimension is Empathy which is an aspect that concentrates on providing individualized treatment for customers.”4

In the present study, the attributes used in the questionnaire to measure service quality will derive from the research of Tsaur et al. (2002) who used 15 service quality

4 Halimi, A., Chavosh, A., Choshalyc, S., Salehi, M., & Pourabedine, Z., The Influence of Perceived Service Quality on Relationship Marketing Orientations and Customers’ Buying Behavior in B2C Relationship from the Customer Perspective, 2011

-6- attributes and grouped these into the five categories analyzed above. Tsaur took under consideration the findings of Fick and Ritchie (1991) that among the five SERVQUAL dimensions, expectations of Airlines’ reliability are significantly higher than for other service sectors related to tourism (i.e., hotels, restaurants, and ski resorts) and set a weight for each attribute.

Table 1: The evaluation criteria for airline service quality

The evaluation criteria for airline service quality

Objective Attribute

Tangibility Comfort and cleanness of seat Food On-board entertainment Appearance of crew

Reliability Professional skill of crew Timeliness Safety

Responsiveness Courtesy of crew Responsiveness of crew

Assurance Actively providing service Convenient departure and arrival time Language skill crew

Empathy Convenient ticketing process Customer complaints handling Extended travel service Source: Tsaur et al. (2002)

-7- 3.2 Self-Congruence

Many studies have also been conducted related to the concept of brand personality and self-congruence, which is the second theory on which the present research is based on. In order to better understand the theory of self-congruence and why it is used in the particular paper, a review of the main concepts will follow next. The concepts analyzed are: Brand Personality, Self-Concept and Self-congruity which came in life by the two previous mentioned.

3.2.1 Brand Personality

Since 1970, a huge trend exists in brand advertising which suggests that apart from the consumers and products, brands can be matched to personality traits as well. According to Kapferer “A brand has a personality. By communicating, it gradually builds up character. The way in which it speaks of its products or services shows what kind of person it would be if it were human”5. Consumers use brand personality and give symbolic meaning to brands in order to “summarize a vast complexity of values and meanings” and simplify buying decisions.6

Summarizing the literature, brand personality is generally defined as the set of human characteristics associated with a brand. Although human and brand personality traits can be conceptualized in a similar way, they are formed differently. As Aaker analyzes, a brand can absorb personality traits by direct sources(person-based), like the company’s employees, CEO and endorsers or by indirect sources(product/service based), like logo, price and distribution channels. On the other hand, a human personality depends on the attitudes, behaviour, society and demographic characteristics. This asymmetric relationship led Aaker in forming a brand personality framework that would consider a brand as a unidimensional construct and, thus,

5 Kapferer, Jean. "The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term 4th edition (New Strategic Brand Management: Creating & Sustaining Brand Equity)" 2008, p.183 6 Klipfel, J. A., Barclay, A. C., & Bockorny, K. M., Self-Congruity: A Determinant of Brand Personality. Journal of Marketing Development & Competitiveness, 2014, 8(3)

-8- would facilitate the personality formulation of a brand and the understanding of how consumers come down to a decision.

Aaker’s Brand Personality framework describes a brand by classifying its traits in five core dimensions: Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication and Ruggedness. Hence, it is a multi-dimensional tool that allows brands to score high or low in more than one dimension. Each dimension is divided in several different facets, in total 15: Sincerity and Excitement each has four facets, Competence has three, and Sophistication and Ruggedness each has two. Following, the facets are measured by a set of traits, shown in the table below, which are rated on a five-point scale, where 1 stands for “Not Descriptive at all” and 5 stands for “Extremely Descriptive” to a specific brand.

Diagram 2: Aaker’s Brand Personality Framework

Source: https://trendjackers.com/brand-personality-case-study/

-9- 3.2.2 Self-Concept & Self-Congruity

There is mass confusion on the precise definition of the self-concept in the consumer behavior literature due to its various components. As per Joseph A. L. Klipfel, the initial components of self-concept were the actual self-concept, meaning the way a consumer believes of himself and the ideal self-concept, meaning the self that one would like to become instead of what he/she actually is in reality. In other words, the ideal-self is who you want to become and what you admire. Other components developed more recently were social self-image and ideal social self-image, which respectively refer to the way one thinks he/she is seen by society and the way one would like to be seen by society.

A review of Harold H. Kassarjian, suggests that “...individuals perceive products that they own, would like to own, or do not want to own in terms of symbolic meaning to themselves and to others. Congruence between the symbolic image of a product (e.g., a .38 caliber is aggressive and masculine, a Lincoln automobile is extravagant and wealthy) and a consumer's self-image implies greater probability of positive evaluation, preference, or ownership of that product or brand.”7 Likewise, Dolich found that “favored brands were consistent with the self concept and thus reinforced it. Marketing strategies that are successful in establishing perceived psychological values for product brands seem to develop product acceptance or rejection by the similarity of these values to the self concept.”8 Therefore, consumers have the tendency to preserve their self-concept and are willing to buy products or services that can assist in maintaining it.

The traditional Self-Congruence measurement follows two steps as Dolich does in his research; first, respondents rate a brand based on certain personality traits imagining that a brand is a person. Afterwards, the respondents rate the same characteristics with respect to their actual and then their ideal self. The Congruity level is finally

7 Kassarjian, Harold H. Personality and consumer behavior: A review. Journal of marketing Research, 1971, 409-418. 8 Dolich, I. J. , Congruence relationships between self images and product brands. Journal of Marketing Research,1969, 80-84.

-10- measured by estimating the discrepancy ratio of the absolute scores between product ratio and self ratio for each trait. “A match between a product image and a person’s actual self-image has been referred to as self-congruity. In contrast, a match between a product image and a person’s ideal self-image has been referred to as ideal congruity.”9

Sirgy (1982) agreed that consumers’ self-images interact with the brand personality, meaning the symbolic image of a brand, but recognized an issue lying in self-congruity research methods. The majority of past studies were using semantic differential scales, which distribute equal weight to all image attributes. However, Sirgy claims that different attributes may carry different weight of importance for each consumer or for different situations. In particular, it is possible that only some attributes have a weigh in a given situation, and only these should be tested. As a result of unfolding this issue, Schenk and Holman (1980) gave birth to the term of situational congruity.

Furthermore, “by presenting subjects with a list of predetermined images, subjects are forced to indicate congruence or incongruence with images that they may or may not associate with the product.”10 Indeed, when the participants in a research are provided with a list of traits, they subconsciously tend to find congruence or incongruence of those characteristics with the brand.

The presented issues are only a few of the issues that Sirgy aroused and led him in designing a new global Self-Congruence Measurement method which approaches it more holistically. First of all, while the previous method is indirect, measuring separately the product-image and the self-image to end up with a combination of ratios, Sirgy’s method measures the self congruity experience directly in order to avoid the problem of discrepancy scores. Also, the new method does not generate predetermined images considering it calls the respondent to imagine a whole image

9 Sirgy, M. J. , Using self-congruity and ideal congruity to predict purchase motivation. Journal of business Research, 13(3),1985, 195-206 10 Sirgy, M. J., Grewal, D., Mangleburg, T. F., Park, J. O., Chon, K. S., Claiborne, C. B., ... & Berkman, H., Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 25(3),1997, 229.

-11- and not partial dimensions. Consequently, the new model gives a solution to the bias generated by the traditional method and this is the criteria for which it is chosen for the particular research. The exemplar of this method is presented below:

Take a moment to think about [brand x]. Think about the kind of person who typically uses [brand x]. Imagine this person in your mind and then describe this person using one or more personal adjectives such as, stylish, classy, masculine, sexy, old, athletic, or whatever personal adjectives you can use to describe the typical user of [brand x]. Once you've done this, indicate your agreement or disagreement to the following statement: This [brand x] is consistent with how I see myself [in situation y].11

The participants were called to rate the consistency on a five scale, where 1 is “Not consistent at all” and 5 is “Absolutely consistent”.

11 Ibid.

-12- 4. Methodology

The survey was conducted using a simple random sampling at “Makedonia Airport” at Thessaloniki and online. Past passengers of Ellinair were asked to fill the questionnaires, leaving no blank fields and eventually 86 questionnaires were collected. First, the participants were asked to provide some basic demographic information: Sex, age group and nationality according to the markets Ellinair works with.

Afterwards, the questionnaire measures the service quality based on the SERVQUAL model developed by Tsaur. The participants were called to rate 15 attributes in terms of perceived quality (judgement after the flight experience) and expected quality (brand image). In contrast to Tsaur, this study considers of equal weight all 15 attributes. All the items were measured using a 7- point Likert-type scale and the gap between these rates led to the final finding regarding service quality.

Moreover, the survey applied Aaker’s Brand Personality Framework to identify the personality traits of Ellinair Brand. Respondents had to rate 15 facets and according to the results the relevant personality traits are going to be matched to Ellinair “person”. For the purpose of measuring the congruence of Ellinair personality with the customers’ personality, the question addressed to the respondents was formulated as following:

Take a moment to think about Ellinair and indicate your agreement or disagreement to the following statement: The image I have in mind for Ellinair is consistent with how I see myself.

The participants were called to rate the consistency on a five scale, where 1 is “Not consistent at all” and 5 is “Absolutely consistent”. Deliberately, there is no question added regarding the consistency of the image of Ellinair and one’s ideal self. The reason is that there would be an issue of predetermined images and bias would be created. By this approach, the participant has the opportunity to define congruence based on the self-concept that drives him/her to buying decisions.

-13- According to a study of Kressmann, the hypothesis that self-congruity plays a crucial role in brand loyalty is approved. This is going to be tested for Ellinair with a relation analysis between the self-congruence level derived from the previously mentioned question and the customer satisfaction level. The customer satisfaction is going to be measured with the Net Promoter Score (NPS) scale, where the respondents state how likely it is to recommend Ellinair to a colleague or friend rating from 1 to 10.

-14- 5. Data Analysis and Findings

In order to conduct this study, primary data has been collected through the questionnaire designed for this research based on past academic papers. The questionnaires were distributed face to face in the gates of Macedonia Airport of Thessaloniki and online. In total, 86 people, who have travelled with Ellinair Airline in the past, participated in the research. Next follows the analysis and interpretation of their replies.

5.1 Demographics

The questionnaire included only basic demographic information in respect to the sex, the age and the nationality of the customers. As per the sex, the sample was balanced with 56% of the respondents being female and 44% being male. On the other hand, the age of the participant mainly belonged to the youngest group categories, meaning 18-24 and 25-34. In particular, 62% of the sample is up to 34 years old and only the rest 38% is older than 34 as seen below.

Diagram 3: Age Group Distribution of the sample

-15- Concerning the nationality, the options available in the questionnaire were based on the markets that Ellinair works with. The 76% of the participants are Greek, 8% are Russian and the remaining percentage is from other European regions. Ellinair operates notably at the Russian, Ukrainian and German market even if the sample is mainly Greek. However, this does not affect the results of the research for the following reason: 90% of the airplane seats are covered by Mouzenidis Travel which sells holiday packages and therefore the clients do not opt for Ellinair directly. The rest 10% is covered mainly by Greek, which means that Greek is the main market that draws attention in the matter of customer engagement. Furthermore, since the vision of the company is to get established as a regional company, then it should first engage the Greek market where it is located.

Diagram 4: Nationality distribution of the sample

-16- 5.2 SERVQUAL Model

Below, follows a presentation of the results of the SERVQUAL gap analysis conducted. A factor analysis for the SERVQUAL model was not realized as the dimensions are adopted by Tsaur but reliability test is used in order to measure reliability of the findings.

5.2.1 Reliability Test

Before moving to the gap analysis, the model used should be checked in terms of reliability and internal consistency. For the statistical verification of the relation between the sets of items in each dimension, Cronbach’s Alpha is the measure used. As seen in the table below, the Cronbach's Alpha of each dimension is above 0,8 for both expectations and perceptions. Being close to 1, the measure implies that internal consistency and reliability is very high.

Table 2: Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Dimensions (Expectations) N of Items (Perceptons) N of Items Tangibility ,817 4 ,841 4 Reliability ,815 3 ,811 3

Responsiveness ,917 2 ,935 2

Assurance ,896 3 ,803 3

Empathy ,868 3 ,913 3

5.2.2 Gap Analysis

Based on the data of the questionnaires, information is extracted regarding Ellinair’s service in total, per dimension and per attribute.

-17- For the company’s total service quality, the average of the participants’ expectations is 5,45 and therefore it was expected to be satisfactory. The high expectations imply that Ellinair has built a favourable brand image and the customers are positive to it. Likely, the average of the perceived quality is rated high with 5,42, which descriptively means that the customers somewhat agree that Ellinair offers high quality services. (Table 3) Although the score is high, the customers believe that the quality received is lower than the quality they expected before their flight experience. In particular there is a negative gap of -0,02 while ideally the gap should be positive. (Table 4)

Table 3: SERVQUAL rates

Average Average Average Average Objective Attribute per per Expectations Perceptions objective objective Comfort and cleanness of 5,48 5,52 seat Tangibility Food 4,55 4,85 4,87 5,11 On-board entertainment 4,08 4,33 Appearance of crew 5,29 5,71 Professional skill of crew 5,67 5,72 Reliability Timeliness 5,41 5,61 5,12 5,54 Safety 5,76 5,77 Courtesy of crew 5,63 5,80 Responsiveness 5,69 5,83 Responsiveness of crew 5,76 5,85 Actively providing 5,72 5,60 service Assurance Convenient departure and 5,57 5,66 5,24 5,47 arrival time Language skill crew 5,69 5,57 Convenient ticketing 5,6 5,33 process Empathy Customer complaints 5,44 5,41 4,95 5,18 handling Extended travel service 5,2 5,27

Total Average 5,45 5,42

-18- The examination of the 5 dimensions of service leads to some useful observations. First of all, Tangibility and Responsiveness have both a positive gap, 0,26 and 0,13 respectively, and so the customers were satisfied by the physical elements of the flight. In other words, it could be said that the image of the aircrafts and the in-flight facilities were worth the fare value.

It is clearly noted that almost all the attributes of Assurance and Empathy have a negative gap score. This outlines a danger and undoubtedly Ellinair should focus on improving these results. Recommendations on each service attribute will be made at the “Further discussion and recommendations” session of the paper.

Table 4: SERVQUAL Expectations – Perceptions Gap Analysis

Gap per Gap per Objective Attribute Attribute objective Comfort and cleanness of seat 0,04 Food 0,32 Tangibility 0,26 On-board entertainment 0,25 Appearance of crew 0,41 Professional skill of crew 0,05 Reliability -0,08 Timeliness -0,29 Safety 0,01 Courtesy of crew 0,17 Responsiveness Responsiveness of 0,13 crew 0,09 Actively providing service -0,12 Assurance Convenient departure -0,19 and arrival time -0,33 Language skill crew -0,12 Convenient ticketing process -0,27 Customer complaints Empathy -0,23 handling -0,49 Extended travel service 0,07

Total Average -0,02

-19- Finally, considering Reliability, the professional skill of the crew as well as the safety were just a little higher than expected with 0,05 and 0,01 gap respectively. Even if the scores are close to zero gap, the results are still satisfactory. On the other hand, the timeliness, the consistency of the flights schedule, is an outlier of this category with a high negative gap score in relation to the rest gaps. This is result of frequent flight delays because of the small fleet of the company and technical issues.

5.3 Brand Personality

The below table demonstrates the average rating that the respondents gave for a set of personality traits in respect to Ellinair. The participants could rate from 1, not descriptive at all, to 5, extremely descriptive.

Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Brand Personality Traits

Std. Mean per Dimensions Personality Traits Mean Deviation Dimension

Down to Earth 3,5867 ,69929 Honest 3,6133 ,76923 Sincerity 3,5700 Wholesome 3,6133 ,78660 Cheerful 3,4667 ,87508 Daring 3,3200 ,90285 Spirited 3,2933 ,81826 Excitement 3,3133 Imaginative 3,2133 ,97666 Up to date 3,4267 1,00234 Reliable 3,6133 ,71458 Competence Intelligent 3,5333 ,79412 3,6000 Successful 3,6533 ,77970 Upper class 3,0267 ,98603 Sophistication 3,1734 Charming 3,3200 ,96086 Outdoorsy 3,1467 ,94000 Ruggedness 3,0334 Tough 2,9200 1,04958

Obviously, there is not any personality trait that is recognized as “Not Descriptive” to Ellinair except for the “Tough”. “Outdoorsy” also scores low with 3,15 and

-20- subsequently the company’s brand image is not rugged but softer instead. This is a reasonable outcome considering that travel and airline industry are associated to more delighted feelings. For example, a tobacco firm or a martial arts academy would score certainly higher on the ruggedness dimension.

Continuing, an important issue lies with the general responses collected; the majority of the ratings is close to 3, which is translated as “Neither Descriptive or Not Descriptive”, giving no important insights on the brand. Especially, the dimension of Sophistication scores in average 3,17 and hence Ellinair is not considered to be Upper class or charming. These two attributes refer to a glamorous and feminine person, so Ellinair would be most probably identified as a male.

Likely, the Excitement dimension scores 3,31 which is not enough to define the brand personality of the company. The “Daring” and “Spirited” attributes consider people who are trendy, cool and young; therefore, Ellinair would be an older adult who is more stable and serious. The only attribute of this dimension that could potentially define Ellinair is “Up to date” which matches an Independent and contemporary profile.

The traits that can be matched to Ellinair have a rating hardly above 3,5 and namely are: Down to Earth, Honest, Wholesome, Reliable, Intelligent and Successful. In others words, Ellinair mainly consists of Sincerity and Competence and could be described as a modest, hard working person who strives for excellence.

In total, a typical client or the brand itself could be described as a middle aged family oriented man with values and moderation; a person who works hard to achieve his goals, always keeps up with technology and aims in self improvement. Although the above description could merely orientate the company in terms of market segmentation and advertising, the low scores imply that there is not either a strong brand behind Ellinair or a clear picture of what exactly it represents. It is strongly recommended that the marketing department will clarify the traits of the brand and try to promote them. The airline industry is mass and cannot address exclusively to

-21- niche markets but at the same time it cannot easily retain loyalty. If loyalty is a goal then the brand image has to be settled despite the mass target group.

5.4 Self Congruity and Customer Satisfaction

According to Net Promoter score measure of satisfaction, customers are grouped and defined based on the following scale:  Promoters (score 9-10): loyal customers who will keep buying in the future, enthusiasts, positive word-of-mouth, value-creation  Passives (score 7-8): satisfied but unenthusiastic, vulnerable to competitors, indifferent, not possible to recommend the company  Detractors (score 0-6): unsatisfied customers, they can harm the brand, negative word-of-mouth

Ellinair promoted an average NPS of 7,81, which is extremely close to the Promoter categorization but unfortunately belonging in the Passive one. This means that the mean customer of Ellinair is satisfied enough but would not opt for Ellinair in every situation. Price would be a stronger motive for them than the brand image and so a better competitive offer would attract them with no second thought.

Table 6: Average Customer Satisfaction

Mean Std. Deviation

Net Promoter Score 7,8133 1,89375

In trying to determine the relationship between self-congruity and customer satisfaction, correlation analysis was conducted between self-congruity scores and Net Promoter Scores. The result obtained using Pearson correlation coefficients is shown in Table 7. There is a significant positive relation between self congruity and the customer satisfaction level with correlation coefficient r(84)=,41 and p=0.

-22- Table 7: Correlation between Self Congruity and Customer Satisfaction

Net Promoter Self-Congruity Score Self-Congruity Pearson Correlation 1 ,414** Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 N 86 86 Net Promoter Score Pearson Correlation ,414** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 N 86 86 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

In practice, the correlation between these two scores can be expressed as following: The higher the similarity of the brand personality with the customer’s personality, the higher is his/her satisfaction by Ellinair. The effect of self-congruity on customer loyalty is depicted in Diagram 5.

The finding suggests for once again that Ellinair should clarify its target group and then focus on building a brand that is matched to their profile.

Diagram 5: Correlation between Self Congruity and Customer Satisfaction

-23- 6. Discussion of Findings and Recommendations

At this point, some useful and practical recommendations on how to increase Ellinair’s differentiation and clients’ loyalty are going to be presented. All these suggestions are outcomes of combining the weaknesses of Ellinair as per the SERVQUAL analysis and the opportunities existing in the current external environment.

6.1 Mobile Application

Undoubtedly, no business is immune to the digital era. On that ground, the airline industry is another business which can boost the quality of its services and its brand with the use of technology. First of all, nowadays the majority of the internet traffic is mobile and not desktop and this is the reason why the largest and most profitable airlines have their own mobile apps. Although Ellinair’s website has an extremely user- friendly mobile version, it still does not have its own mobile application. This is probably the main reason why customers rated low the convenience of the ticketing process in relation to what they expected before flight. Considering that the booking procedure and the check in are vital parts of the pre-flight experience, the creation of an innovative and branded mobile app would promote higher customer satisfaction. All the largest and most profitable airlines worldwide owe an up-to-date app that gives control to the customers and offers a better flying experience; Singapore Airlines was the first airline in 2015 to develop an app that provides personalized homepage, guides regarding the destination and synchronization of personal electronic devices (tablets, smartphones and smart watches) with the in-flight entertainment programme.12 Delta Airlines won in 2017 the Future Travel Experience award for best check-in initiative thanks to Nomad customer assistance tool. Nomad managed to “revolutionize the airport experience for passengers by empowering their gate agents

12 Singapore Airlines: Multi-Device App, mmaglobal.com, Retrieved from https://www.mmaglobal.com/case-study-hub/case_studies/view/42569

-24- to deliver service beyond the podium.”13 With such examples, even the regional leaders have to stay up to date and leverage the customer experience with apps and tools.

6.2 Big Data

Although the respondents of the questionnaire agreed that the crew of Ellinair immediately responds to their calling, finally they do not provide their services as actively as expected. How could an airline achieve customization and provide personal content for each passenger in order to predict the wants of the passengers and provide excellent customer service support? Thanks to big data, the airline is allowed to do all the above; Big Data is defined by Gartner as “high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing that enable enhanced insight, decision making, and process automation.”14 Such information sets are produced in a high scale during flights as confirmed by a research of the Amrita School of Engineering in India. According to it, “the average transatlantic flight generates about 1,000 gigabytes of data, the equivalent of about 2,000 hours of CD-quality recording.”15 Today, there are plenty of platforms and softwares available to assist airlines with retrieving and analyzing big data, from Amadeus, Oracle and McKinsey & Company to other smaller in size providers.

Although there is still a high cost, the benefits received from the use of big data analytics tools would be profitable for Ellinair. Apart from the in-flight entertainment, data gives birth to behavioural analytics. Imagine that an airline knows for a customer the price sensitivity, the flight frequency, the time when he/she prefers to have a meal served. In other words, behavioural analytics allow airlines to predict all the

13 Customer Case Study: Delta Airlines, powwowmobile.com, Retrieved from https://www.powwowmobile.com/landing_page/customer-case-study-delta-airlines/ 14 Big Data, gartner.com, Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/big-data/ 15 How airlines aim to use big data to boost profits, ft.com, Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/f3a931be-47aa-11e8-8ae9-4b5ddcca99b3

-25- interactions of a customer, providing this way the best, customized experience to engage him/her.

More specifically, Ellinair could collect and use big data through the Frequent Flyer Programme that it plans to launch. The goal of a loyalty program is to establish a higher level of customer retention in profitable segments by providing more satisfaction and value to certain customers (Bolton, Kannan, and Bramlett 2000). Definitely, the use of a Loyalty Programme is a must for Ellinair to stay updated and therefore, a correct strategic move that has two different sides: The first side of the coin is the collection of valuable data. The customers will add all the relevant information in the platform, giving Ellinair useful insights to use as described above. The other side is the positive reinforcement applied to the customers through the Programme. When they get rewarded for travelling repeatingly with Ellinair, it is reasonable that they are motivated to choose it again in the future. In conclusion, a Loyalty Programme is a vicious circle of loyalty and data: Customers provide information that the company may use for increasing their loyalty.

Except for behavioural analytics, big data can provide predictive analytics as well. The research has shown that many customers have experienced delays or cancelations when booking with Ellinair. Maintenance not only is a reason of delayed flights but also is a crucial cost for all airlines. How can predictive analytics change this? “The patent pending predictive analytics uses computer learning techniques to “weigh” the data for better statistical analysis. When the program recognizes outlying anomalies it sends warning information in time to schedule corrective maintenance. Thus planes are less likely to break down, delay service, or require costly down time while parts are flown in.”16 With predictive analytics, Ellinair could forecast when it is necessary to maintain its aircrafts and, following, it could improve passenger safety, timeliness and trustworthiness.

16 Predictive Aviation Analytics Home Page, predictiveaviation.com, Retrieved from predictiveaviation.com

-26- 6.3 Expansion of the fleet

The gap analysis of the SERVQUAL model also revealed that the customers are not satisfied enough from the timetable of the flights. Unfortunately, Ellinair cannot do many modifications in this program as the total number of aircrafts it owns is still small. According to their recent announcement, Ellinair intends to expand its fleet with more aircrafts that would allow it to adjust the schedule and stop operating the same aircraft constantly from one route to another. The expansion of the fleet not only would provide to customers more convenient options for both arrival and departure but it would also assist in improving the timeliness of the flights. An aircraft that has not a tight program of flights in a day is more probable to be in time and satisfy the customers.

Of course, buying aircrafts is expensive but the cheap loans and leasing are constantly available for airlines that have their eyes open to opportunities. However, Ellinair is a company that belongs in a successful wider group of companies. That given, investments can be made, using the profits of other companies or external projects.

On a second thought, the expansion of the fleet could also improve the problem of the language skills of the crew. The research showed that passengers do not get the communication skills they expect. The following situation is an example of the source of this issue: If an aircraft has to fly in the same day from Moscow to Athens and then from Athens to Thessaloniki, that leaves no choice to the company to distribute the staff in different ways. They should definitely use staff members who speak Russian for the first fight because Russian people are not yet familiar to the English language. However, during the second flight from Athens to Thessaloniki there might me tourists from other countries who do not speak Russian and cannot be served impeccably by the same crew.

In the meantime, before investing in a significant number of aircrafts, Ellinair should pay attention in hiring crew that can cover the largest possible part of the customers and distribute it carefully.

-27-

6.4 24/7 Customer Service

Finally, the gap analysis showed a negative score as per the handling of complaints of the company. The luggage handling service of Ellinair is outsourced to the multinational supplier, Goldair Handling, which serves more than 100 companies, including Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Aegean, the Greek market’s leader. Despite the recognized services of Goldair Handling, many customers who participated in the research were not satisfied enough by the customer service received when they faced issues with their luggage.

Since the service is outsourced, Ellinair cannot make radical changes in the part of the luggage handling. Indeed the company is well known and a very strong cooperation for Ellinair. Ellinair then should improve its customer service and keep control of the outsourced luggage handling.

Being more specific, customers who have experienced a luggage loss with Ellinair were not able to communicate neither with Goldair Handling neither with Ellinair because both phone centers operate for specific hours of the day. Ellinair is still a start-up, small airline but in order to create trust and security to the customers, it should gradually adopt a 24/7 call center that can provide information and assist the clients any time given.

-28- 7. Limitations and future research

The data collected from the distribution of the questionnaires was carefully analyzed and interpreted. However, there are certain limitations that are essential to be mentioned and taken under consideration.

First of all, the total sample collected was 86 questionnaires, which is inadequate and not representative enough. There was a difficulty in collecting at least 100 responses like it was initially planned, due to a number of reasons: Ellinair is a start-up airline so past passengers are less, there was a time limitation in collecting the data and the questionnaire’s length was extended as many theoretical models were applied.

Furthermore, half of the questionnaires were filled at Thessaloniki city and so the participants possibly have experienced flights at the specific airport. Considering that the airport plays a crucial role in the flight experience nevertheless how good or bad a company is, this limitation could cause a serious bias in the findings. Realizing a relevant research in other airports of Greece where Ellinair operates and comparing the results with this study would be a validation of the present research or would provide focused recommendations for each airport. In other words, a certain service e.g. complaint handling could be better in Athens airport than it is in and the service in each airport should be examined separately in the future for more customized solutions.

Another limitation lies in the statistical tests applied in the data and results. Especially SERVQUAL is a complex model with various dimensions to which many statistical reliability and validity tests could be applied. Due to the use of many theoretical models, this study could not further analyze SERVQUAL in terms of statistics. A future research could possible focus on this model and produce more detailed insights. Moreover, at the particular implication of SERVQUAL, all the dimensions and attributes used were calculated unweighted so equal importance was given to each of them. In

-29- case of future research, weighted means can be used according to the focus of the research.

-30- 8. Conclusions

The airline industry is undoubtedly a world full of growth and subsequently an extremely competitive environment. Ellinair Airlines has as a vision to become a regional leader and as a mission to provide high quality services. Becoming a regional leader despite the competition requires engaging the customers and making them loyal to a brand.

On that ground, the purpose of the specific study was to measure the service quality of Ellinair in order to find the weak points that should be improved. The gap analysis between the expected and perceived quality led to the conclusion that the passengers were not satisfied enough in terms of Assurance and Empathy. Additionally, Ellinair is considered to be reliable with the exception of the timeliness of the flights which are frequently delayed. In order to increase the quality of the above, it is strongly recommended that the company will use technology; a mobile application is a necessity to keep up with the rest airlines and boost the ticketing and pre-flight experience. The soonest launch of the Frequent Flyer Loyalty Program not only would motivate the customers to choose Ellinair in repeat but it would also provide the company with valuable data that could leverage the on-spot experience. Bid data is also a time savior that can predict when the aircrafts need maintenance and keep them on schedule. Finally, Ellinair should focus on the programmed already expansion of its fleet and on a better customer service by extending the call center open hours.

Furthermore, the paper tries to define the traits of Ellinair’s brand personality and use them for a better market segmentation. Unfortunately the results demonstrate that Ellinair does not have a clear brand image but in general appears to be sincere and competent. Although addressing to a mass population, the marketing department of the company should define the brand more sharply.

Finally, the self-congruence level between the brand and the customer was compared to the satisfaction level. The relation analysis proved that the higher the congruence is, the higher the satisfaction. This again emphasizes that both the segmentations

-31- included in the target group and the brand personality should be defined and match each other.

The final metrics of the research that lead in a main general conclusion is the plain satisfaction measure, the Net Promoter Score. The average of the past passengers denoted that the possibility to recommend Ellinair to a colleague or friend is 7,8 in a scale from 1 to 10. Unquestionably, the average is positive to the company and provides the confidence to make the following statement:

With only minor improvements according to the above recommendations, Ellinair Airline could obtain loyal customers and eventually establish itself as a regional leader.

-32- 9. Bibliography

Academic Journals

Aaker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of marketing research, 347-356

Aguirre-Rodriguez, A., Bosnjak, M., & Sirgy, M. J. (2012). Moderators of the self-congruity effect on consumer decision-making: A meta-analysis. Journal of Business Research, 65(8), 1179-1188

Aydin, K., & Yildirim, S. (2012). The measurement of service quality with servqual for different domestic airline firms in Turkey. Serbian Journal of Management, 7(2), 219-230

Bolton, R. N., Kannan, P. K., & Bramlett, M. D. (2000). Implications of loyalty program membership and service experiences for customer retention and value. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 28(1), 95-108

Dolich, I. J. (1969). Congruence relationships between self images and product brands. Journal of Marketing Research, 80-84

Geraldine, O. (2013). Effects of airline service quality on airline image and passengers loyalty: Findings from Arik Air Nigeria passengers. Journal of Hospitality Management and Tourism, 4(2), 19-28

Gursoy, D., Chen, M. H., & Kim, H. J. (2005). The US airlines relative positioning based on attributes of service quality. Tourism management, 26(1), 57-67

Halimi, A., Chavosh, A., Choshalyc, S., Salehi, M., & Pourabedine, Z. (2011). The Influence of Perceived Service Quality on Relationship Marketing Orientations and Customers’ Buying Behavior in B2C Relationship from the Customer Perspective

Hapsari, R., Clemes, M. D., & Dean, D. (2017). The impact of service quality, customer engagement and selected marketing constructs on airline passenger loyalty. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 9(1), 21-40

Kassarjian, H. H. (1971). Personality and consumer behavior: A review. Journal of marketing Research, 409-418

Kressmann, F., Sirgy, M. J., Herrmann, A., Huber, F., Huber, S., & Lee, D. J. (2006). Direct and indirect effects of self-image congruence on brand loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 59(9), 955-964

Krsmanovic, M., Horvat, A., & Ruso, J. Application of SERVQUAL model in high education. Commitment, 3, 3-757

Nadiri, H., Hussain, K., Haktan Ekiz, E., & Erdoğan, Ş. (2008). An investigation on the factors influencing passengers' loyalty in the North national airline. The TQM Journal, 20(3), 265-280

-33- Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. the Journal of Marketing, 41-50

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). Servqual: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perc. Journal of retailing, 64(1), 12

Sirgy, M. J. (1982). Self-concept in consumer behavior: A critical review. Journal of consumer research, 9(3), 287-300

Sirgy, M. J. (1985). Using self-congruity and ideal congruity to predict purchase motivation. Journal of business Research, 13(3), 195-206

Sirgy, M. J., Grewal, D., Mangleburg, T. F., Park, J. O., Chon, K. S., Claiborne, C. B., ... & Berkman, H. (1997). Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 25(3), 229

Surovitskikh, S., & Lubbe, B. (2008). Positioning of selected Middle Eastern airlines in the South African business and leisure travel environment. Journal of Air Transport Management, 14(2), 75-81

Tsaur, S. H., Chang, T. Y., & Yen, C. H. (2002). The evaluation of airline service quality by fuzzy MCDM. Tourism management, 23(2), 107-115

Usakli, A., & Baloglu, S. (2011). Brand personality of tourist destinations: An application of self- congruity theory. Tourism management, 32(1), 114-127

Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. the Journal of Marketing, 31-46

Books

Bamossy, G. J., & Solomon, M. R. (2016). Consumer behaviour: A European perspective. Pearson Education

Chiaravalle, B., & Schenck, B. F. (2014). Branding for dummies. John Wiley & Sons

Kapferer, J. (2008). The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term 4th edition (New Strategic Brand Management: Creating & Sustaining Brand Equity)

-34- Websites

Big Data, gartner.com, Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/big-data/

Company Profile, goldair-handling.gr, Retrieved from http://www.goldair-handling.gr/en/pages/company_profile

Customer Case Study: Delta Airlines, powwowmobile.com, Retrieved from https://www.powwowmobile.com/landing_page/customer-case-study-delta- airlines/

How airlines aim to use big data to boost profits, ft.com, Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/f3a931be-47aa-11e8-8ae9-4b5ddcca99b3

Predictive Aviation Analytics, predictiveaviation.com, Retrieved from https://predictiveaviation.com/

Singapore Airlines: Multi-Device App, mmaglobal.com, Retrieved from https://www.mmaglobal.com/case-study-hub/case_studies/view/42569

The Aviation Industry Leaders Report 2018: Navigating the Cycle, kpmg.com, Retrieved from https://home.kpmg.com/ie/en/home/insights/2018/01/aviation-industry- leaders-report

The future of the airline industry, Airlines.iata.org, Retrieved from https://airlines.iata.org/analysis/the-future-of-the-airline-industry

Εταιρικό προφίλ, Ellinair.com, Retrieved from https://el.ellinair.com/article/company_profile

Η Ellinair μεγαλώνει: Αύξηση 43% των θέσεων και 35% των πτήσεων στο εφετινό χειμερινό πρόγραμμα, metaforespress.gr, Retrieved from https://www.metaforespress.gr/aeroporika/%CE%B7-ellinair- %CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B5%CE%B9- %CE%B1%CF%8D%CE%BE%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7-43-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD- %CE%B8%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B5%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-35-%CF%84/

Νέα βάση της Ellinair στο 'Ελ. Βενιζέλος', traveldailynews.gr, Retrieved from https://traveldailynews.gr/news/article/68499

-35- 10. Appendix

Appendix 1: Questionnaire in English

Demographics Sex * Male

Female

Age group * 18-25 26-34

35-54

55-64

65 or over

Nationallity * Eastern Europe

Western Europe

Greece

Russia

Balkans

Other:

Service Quality

In the following pages, you will be asked to rate 15 different traits of Ellinair in terms of quality. First, you will have to rate the level of service you expected before flying with Ellinair. Afterwards, you will have to rate the service quality you really received during the flight experience. Please do not be affected from the flight experience and try to answer subjectively regarding your expectations.

-36-

Before my flight, I expected the following services to be excellent. *

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Neither Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree agree or agree agree disagree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Comfort and cleanness of seat

Food 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

On-board 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 entertainment

Appearance of crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Professional skill of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 crew

Timeliness 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Safety 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Courtesy of crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Responsiveness of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 crew

Actively providing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 service

Convenient departure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and arrival time

Language skill crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Convenient ticketing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 process

Customer complaints 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 handling

-37-

After my flight, I can confirm that the same services were excellent. *

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Neither Somewhat Agree Strongly disagree disagree agree or agree agree disagree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Comfort and cleanness of seat

Food 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

On-board 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 entertainment

Appearance of crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Professional skill of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 crew

Timeliness 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Safety 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Courtesy of crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Responsiveness of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 crew

Actively providing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 service

Convenient departure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and arrival time

Language skill crew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Convenient ticketing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 process

Customer complaints 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 handling

Extended travel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 service/Other services

-38- Brand Personality

Try to imagine that Ellinair is not a company but a person. Rate in what extend the following personality traits describe Ellinair.

I can describe Ellinair as: *

Not Not Neither Descriptive Extremelly Descriptive descriptive descriptive Descriptive at all or not

descriptive

Down to earth 1 2 3 4 5

Honest 1 2 3 4 5

Wholesome 1 2 3 4 5

Spirited 1 2 3 4 5

Cheerful 1 2 3 4 5

Daring 1 2 3 4 5

Imaginative 1 2 3 4 5

Up-to-date 1 2 3 4 5

Reliable 1 2 3 4 5

Intelligent 1 2 3 4 5

Successful 1 2 3 4 5

Upper class 1 2 3 4 5

Charming 1 2 3 4 5

Outdoorsy 1 2 3 4 5

Tough 1 2 3 4 5

Self-Congruity The image I have in mind for Ellinair is consistent with how I see myself.

Not consistent at Absolutely all consistent

1 2 3 4 5

-39- Net Promoter Score Considering only your most recent purchase experience, how likely would you be to recommend Ellinair’s flights to a friend or colleague?

Not at Extrem All ely Likely Likely

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Appendix 2: Questionnaire in Russian

Демографические данные

Пол * ⬜ Мужской ⬜ Женский

Возраст * ⬜ 18-25 ⬜ 26-34 ⬜ 35-44 ⬜ 45-54 ⬜ 55-64 ⬜ 65 и старше

Национальность * ⬜ Восточная Европа ⬜ Западная Европа ⬜ Греция ⬜ Балканы ⬜ Другое

Качество обслуживания

Ниже вам будет представлено 15 различных измерений качества Ellinair. Во-первых, вам нужно будет оценить уровень обслуживания, который вы ожидали перед полетом с Ellinair. После этого вам необходимо будет оценить качество обслуживания во время полета. Просим вас быть объективными в своих ответах, независимо от вашего опыта полета и ваших ожиданий.

-40-

До полета я ожидал, что следующие услуги будут отличными *

Полностью Не В чем-то И В чем- Согласен Полностью не согласен не согласен то согласен согласен согласен и не согласен согласен 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Комфорт и чистота

салона

Качество питания 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Развлечения на борту 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Внешний вид экипажа 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Профессиональное 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 мастерство экипажа

Своевременность 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Безопасность 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Услуги, предоставляемые 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 экипажем

Отзывчивость персрнала 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Активность предоставления 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 услуг

Удобное время отправления 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 и прибытия

Владение персонала 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 иностранными языками

Удобная сисстема 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 бронирования

Система обработки жалоб 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 клиентов

Дополнительные услуги/ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Другие услуги

После полета я могу подтвердить, что следующие услуги были высокого качества . *

-41-

Полностью Не В чем-то И В чем-то Согласен Полностью не согласен не согласен согласен согласен согласен согласен и не согласен 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Комфорт и чистота

салона

Качество питания 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Развлечения на борту 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Внешний вид экипажа 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Профессиональное 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 мастерство экипажа

Своевременность 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Безопасность 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Услуги, предоставляемые 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 экипажем

Отзывчивость экипажа 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Активность предоставления 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 услуг

Удобное время отправления 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 и прибытия

Владение персонала 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 иностранными языками

Удобная сисстема 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 бронирования

Система обработки жалоб 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 клиентов

Дополнительные услуги/ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Другие услуги

Личность Brand

-42- Представьте себе, что Ellinair не компания, а человек. Оцените, в какой степени следующие черты характера описывают Ellinair.

Я могу описать Ellinair как: *

Совсем Не И описательный Описательный Чрезвычайно описательный и не Не описательный описательный описательный

Приземленный 1 2 3 4 5

Честный 1 2 3 4 5

Доброжелательный 1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

Радостный

Смелый 1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

Духовный

Одаренный 1 2 3 4 5 богатым воображением

Современный 1 2 3 4 5

Надежный 1 2 3 4 5

Интеллигентный 1 2 3 4 5

Успешный 1 2 3 4 5

Аристократический 1 2 3 4 5

Обаятельный 1 2 3 4 5

Спортивный 1 2 3 4 5

Жесткий 1 2 3 4 5

Self-Congruity

-43-

То, как я представляю себе Ellinair, согласуется с тем, как я вижу себя.

Совсем несовместимо Абсолютно совместимо

1 2 3 4 5

Net Promoter Score

В какой степени вы могли бы рекомендовать рейсы Ellinair другу или коллеге, учитывая свой последний опыт полета с Ellinair?

Совсем не вероятно Чрезвычайно вероятно

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

-44-

Appendix 3: Ellinair Winter Flight Programme for 2018-2019

Route Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Thessaloniki- EL100: EL100: EL100: EL100: EL100: EL100: EL100: Athens 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 1705-1800 EL102: EL102: EL102: EL102: EL102: EL102: EL102: 1730-1825 1730-1825 1900-1955 1730-1825 1810-1905 1730-1825 1910-2005

Athens- EL101: EL101: EL101: EL101: EL101: EL101: EL101: Thessaloniki 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 0800-0855 1510-1605 EL103: EL103: EL103: EL103: EL103: EL103: EL103: 1730-1825 1730-1825 1730-1825 1730-1825 1730-1825 1730-1825 2105-2200

Thessaloniki- EL050: Heraklion 0700-0815 EL052: EL052: EL052: EL052: 1730-1845 1830-1945 1730-1845 1730-1845

Heraklion - EL051: Thessaloniki 0915-1030 EL053: EL053: EL053: EL053: 1945-2100 2045-2200 1945-2100 1935-2050

Thessaloniki EL090: EL090: - Rhodes 1000-1120 1440-1600

Rhodes - EL091: EL091: Thessaloniki 1550-1710 1650-1810

Thessaloniki- EL908: EL908: EL908: Moscow 1000-1415 1000-1415 0855-1310

Moscow - EL909: EL909: EL909: Thessaloniki 1515-1730 1515-1730 1410-1625

Thessaloniki- EL252: EL252: Stutgard 1000-1140 1000-1140

Stutgard - EL253: EL253: Thessaloniki 1240-1620 1240-1620

Thessaloniki EL133: - Mineralnye 1200-1545 Vody

Mineralnye EL134: Vody - 1645-1850 Thessaloniki

-45- Athens - EL031: EL033: EL033: EL033: EL033: EL031: EL033: Heraklion 0955-1045 1400-1450 1330-1420 1955-2045 2005-2055 0955-1045 1900-1950

Heraklion - EL030: EL032: EL032: EL032: EL032: EL030: EL032: Athens 1145-1235 1550-1640 1520-1610 2135-2225 2145-2235 1145-1235 2050-2140

Athens - EL890: EL890: EL890: Rhodes 1330-1430 1330-1430 1400-1500

Rhodes - EL891: EL891: EL891: Athens 1520-1620 1530-1630 1210-1310

Athens - EL845: Krasnodar 0955-1340

Krasnodar - EL846: Athens 1440-1625

Source: Ellinair Press Release

Appendix 4: Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet market Share Worldwide

Source: Desktop vs Statcounter, Mobile vs Tablet Market Share Worldwide

-46-

-1-